Sometimes I look through the lectionary text and wonder if the passages someone choose the passages randomly…”we haven’t had this one for a while, lets add it!” They just don’t seem to have anything in common. I have to admit, I miss things (all the time) and maybe I rarely read the lectionary text this close or maybe they don’t have much in common with the other texts for the week. Nevertheless, this week there are themes in the four texts…

I choose you…

God takes David “from the pasture, from following the sheep” (2 Samuel 7:8), Mary is “the lowliness of his servant” (Luke 1:48). If we were to look for these people today, we would not find them in the White House or in the boardroom. We might find David working hard on the family farm. Not the father that runs the farm, not the mother that makes sure the family runs smooth, but the child working and playing along his siblings, working so that there would be food on the table.

Have you seen Mary lately? She is the child from the “wrong side of the tracks,” the small town that everyone forgot about. Do you drive by cheap, run down motels on your way to work? Do you think maybe there is a young unwed mother that has gone through hell? Maybe Mary knew she was carrying a very special baby but to others she was unwed and pregnant. I wonder what her parents thought. Did they make her leave the only home she had ever known because of how she disgraced her family?

Today we know that how important David and Mary are in the history of the world. It makes it hard to return to the time and place of the story and remember that the people around them saw them the same way that we see outsiders, not good enough, not loved or the wrong kind of people. But God choose Mary, God choose David.

Forever…

“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me” (2 Samuel 7.16). “According to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1.55). “I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations” (Psalm 89.4). “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:33).

These texts are very clear on one thing “forever.” From generation to generation, we have a King, a Son of God that “to whom be the glory forever!” (Romans 16:27). These texts also lack one thing…”if.” Jesus will not reign “if” I have the right belief system, the right way of thinking, the right way of doing, there is no “if” even if I don’t know what the Kingdom of God looks like. There is no “if”…Jesus is King whether I know it, believe it or walk it…forever, from generation to generation, there is no end to his Kingdom. No “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” about it.

Strength…

It is Advent; Christmas is coming (in December EVERY YEAR!). A joyous time for all. Right? Not so fast, most of us need strength to face the difficulties of this season. These texts offer that promise…”I will give you rest from all of your enemies” (2 Samuel 7:11). “He has shown strength with his arm” (Luke 1:15). “My hand shall always remain with him; my arm also shall strengthen him” (Psalms 89.21). “Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ” (Romans 16:25). “The power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35).

I may not know much…but I know that Mary and David needed strength. How do you tell your father that you are leaving the family farm to become the king? How do you go to your parents and tell them that you are pregnant? To have a messenger from God tell you that you are pregnant is one thing, to relay that information to your future spouse and parents is another. To allow others into the pain and fear that we face is facing down the gates of hell and choosing to walk through them. Hoping that what is on the other side is more like heaven. A place that we are not alone with our fear and pain anymore, a place that we know we are worthy of love, even with the mistakes of our past and failures of our present. We face many of the most difficult and tragic times in our lives feeling alone. To walk through those gates to find that we are worthy of love and no longer alone, this takes the strength of God to do.

The worst pain in the world is the pain suffered alone. Do not be alone: share.

A few weeks ago I completed my first quarter at Iliff School of Theology. One of the first things I studied was the old testament, “Hebrew Bible I.” Which explains the reason for picking this text this week. I’ve already studied this text and have an idea of its history…yes, I’m taking the easy way out! Going with what I already know…

2 Samuel 7

King David moved the capital and the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. In 2 Samuel 7, David has moved into his new kingly palace and tells Nathan, his prophet, that he would like to build a house for God. Nathan, saying “go for it,” but God does not approve, so they put the building of the temple on hold for later generations. God establishes the Davidic dynasty, the ancestors of David will always be king over Israel.

My thoughts…

It is interesting that David wants to build a temple for God but God very clearly says “no.” God never asked for a temple, he didn’t want one (2 Samuel 5-7).

Did you know that Homer Simpson bought Marge a bowling ball for her birthday one year? With his name on it, of course. The gift was not for her, not really. I am sure I’ve done it, bought a gift for someone, a gift that I fell in love with…but failed to actually consider if the receiver would love it. I know I’ve received gifts that the giver loved but…ya, I know how Marge felt! Maybe this “gift” of a house for God was the same. God said no, God didn’t need a temple, never asked for one…God was not interested.

If we only had verses 5-7, we would know that God did not want a “house.” But that is not all we have, we also have verse 13…”[your child] will build a house to honor me.” Did God not want a temple or did he not want David to build it for him? It is a little confusing. The different voices from different times comes through this text. One voice is clear, “no temple”. Another voice, later in the tradition probably, comes through and adds “yet.” “No temple, yet.”

Even in these few short versus, the depth and complexity of this text shines through. A temple was not just voted upon, built and accepted by all people through all Israel’s history. There is a wrestling here in the text, questions that people are asking.

How do we, as the Hebrew people, live in our land as a United Kingdom?

Add to that…the authors/editors that pulled these books together into their final form

What do you write now that you are in exile…away from your temple and land? How does a historian write about their history, and promises made, while living in the present, with seemingly broken promises?

Add to that…the fact that this is a couple of thousand years later!

How do we read this text today? Knowing that a temple was built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again? Hearing the stories of Jesus, from the line of David, the anointed one, do we hear “your throne will be established forever” and hear, not the story of an ancient people, but instead our story? The story of Christ?

We wrestle with the things of God all the time. Is it really a surprise that thousands of years ago, they wrestled too? For me, it makes these people more real, it makes God more real.

I’ve been sitting around for a couple of years waiting for some amazing blog idea to hit me. One that makes it very easy to blog, with very little effort or thought put into it. Ya, I live on a different planet sometimes. I’m trying to convince myself that the only way to begin a blog is to well…start blogging. So, here we go, journeying through the beginning steps, the failures, the successes, and one day…my first reader. (If, of course I ever actually make this thing public!)

I don’t have anything to write about but one day I will…one day, I will sit down with the Bible, look at the lectionary text, pick a passage for the week…pray, listen, learn, and eventually write that amazing sermon, one day I will do all of those things.

Well, I am not big on “one day, when all the stars line up and I have arrived.” So, today I start. I will look at the text, study it, and then blog about it. That simple. I’m not going to preach…yet. Just write about what I find. It will be interesting to look back one day to see where this journey takes me.